Ponies & Humans: Our Friendship is Linked
by Douzuki Soulpower
Summary: Three humans find a trio of mysterious artifacts, & are transported to Equestria. While a new foe plots a temporal tragedy for Equestria, the humans meet the Mane 6, settle in Ponyville, & soon learn of a deep connection between them & the 3 pony species.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello. Welcome to this story.**

**This is one of those Human in Equestria fanfics. There are many stories with similar concept, but this one's mine. I can't guarantee an exceptionally high amount of uniqueness from said similar concept stories, But, I'll do all that I can. Thank you for your understanding in advance.**

**I've done a major revision to the story, changing the background & using two humans (for now) instead of one. (Using multiple humans hasn't been done very much.) Hopefully, this will further differentiate it from the rest.**

**By the way, neither of the humans in this story are me.**

**Chapter 1**

Once, there lived a pair of brothers. Dalerian & Norvin Temtrikov, both thirteen years of age. These two were great friends & highly amicable towards each other. Their seemingly normal lives will soon be rocked, as this tale tells...

It all began one seemingly normal day;The sun was beaming & the breeze was uplifting. School had just been finished for the day, and Dalerian & Norvin were on their way home.

"Dalerian, have I ever told you how stupid & shortsighted our school counsel is?" Norvin sighed.

"As a matter of fact, no." replied Dalerian. "Why would you think that?"

"Simple. Before our first class today, I went to the gym sign up sheet to apply myself for one sport & one sport only. A sport that requires stamina, dexterity, & most importantly, flexibility."

"Track & Field?"

"Ew, no. Gymnastics."

"Gymnastics? Really?" Dalerian was surprised.

"Yes! I've admired it for some time now; the stunts, the adrenaline, the amazing feats of precision and acrobatics..."

"Alright, I get it. So, what happened?"

"After our last class, our gym teacher called me into his office & told me that my application was _declined!"_

"Declined?"

"Declined, denied, & just plain REJECTED!" Norvin balled his fists.

"Why would they decline that?"

"They said gymnastics is a 'girls only' sport." Norvin sneered in a mocking tone "Like they think us boys can be nothing more than lazy, good-for-nothing couch potatoes!" He pouted.

"Oh...Don't take it so hard." Dalerian wrapped an arm around his brother. "Sometimes, life can unfair like that. I think someday, you'll pull off some amazing acrobatics that will leave an entire crowd breathless.

Norvin's face flushed a little at the thought. "Aw, thanks. I love you, Dalerian."

"I love you too, Norvin." Dalerian smiled.

Much of the walk was uneventful, until the two neared their neighborhood, where Norvin got the first hint that something was wrong.

"...Hey, Dalerian," he asked, sniffing the air. "Do you smell...smoke?"

After some sniffing, Dalerian could smell it as well. "Yeah, I do. Is someone having a barbecue?"

"No, silly. It smells more like...smoke from an untamed fire...

"You mean the barbecuer's open flame-broiling his food, or something?"

"Nobody is barbecueing anything, you dolt!" retorted Norvin, annoyed, getting an angry look from his brother in return for his insult. "Sorry, but I have bad feeling about this smoke!"

"Little bro, I'm 84% positive that nothing's wrong. I mean, it's not like a huge wildfire is raging through our home suburbs or anything like that."

When they turned a corner, both brothers were shocked to see the houses on both sides of the street in charred, smoldering ruins. Rescue vehicles had already been dispatched to extinguish fires & search for survivors.

Norvin was speechless by the destruction & sorrow laid out before him. "Wh-...Wh-What happened?..."

"I don't know, Norvin." replied Dalerian with a look of disbelief. "But I think we better get home." He ran down the rubble-littered sidewalk with Norvin running behind him, hoping that there was still a house to return to. His hopes were dashed when they came to where their house once stood, which was now reduced to several piles of black, heated ash. Norvin checked the number on a nearby mailbox lying on the ground. It was indeed their home.

"...I don't believe this..." was all Dalerian could stutter under so much shock.

"...M-MOM AND DAD ARE-" Norvin's brother's hand over his mouth cut him off.

"Now, Now, Norvin. Let's not get ahead of ourselves." Dalerian reassured, wanting to tear up at Norvin's muffled cries. We don't have to assume the worst. I'm sure our parents are just fine & haven't been," Dalerian struggled for a moment to find the right words. "...blown up. Everything's going to be fine, you'll see."

Norvin forcibly removed his brother's hand from his mouth. "Stop it, just stop trying to fool me with your false sense of security! I can see for myself that our house is destroyed, & in retrospect, our lives are over!"

"Calm down, Norvin; There's still hope. If memory serves, Mom and Dad both have jobs, & we both know they usually don't arrive home until a little later than we leave school, so they should still be on their way home."

"Oh, yeah...That means they're okay...Phew."

"Then again, if memory still serves, Mom got a promotion & they both took the day off to celebrate their accomplish-" Norvin's sudden wails of renewed hopelessness indicated to Dalerian that his words weren't helping anymore. "D-Don't cry, Norvin! We just need to find a place to stay until they come back for us."

Norvin managed to stop crying. "Okay, fine. I'll humor you for a moment. Where? Where are we going to take up residence until Mom and Dad 'find' us?"

"Hmm...What about that place over there?"

Dalerian pointed towards a house on a nearby hill. It was roughly about half as large as the other houses in the suburbs, but it still looked to be in good repair & shape. The brothers trekked towards the home, ignoring the warnings shouted behind them by on-scene rescue workers. When they reached the house, Norvin pulled down a notice paper that was taped to the front door. "'The Federal Government has condemned this establishment, blah blah blah... for the general safety of the populace, yadda yadda...the reason being a presumed dangerous supernatural presence confirmed within.'?" That's downright ridiculous."

"I think so too." agreed Dalerian. "In that case, this place will serve as out temporary home until we can figure out where to go from here."

And so, they agreed to spend their time in the supposedly haunted house. Strangely, there were working lights & appliances, running water, & even a various foods inside, despite being condemned. There were still able to go to school & survive, but with each passing hour, both brothers became increasingly worried wether or not their parents perished in the unexplained catastrophe that befell their lives.

* * *

Three days later at dusk, Dalerian opened a kitchen cabinet & tensed up at what he saw. He went into the living room with a nervous expression. "We have a problem, brother. Our food supplies seem to be...running low."

"Running low? Oh, that's just wonderful!" Norvin exclaimed with worried sarcasm. "What are we gonna do?! We're too young & don't have any means to get any more resources! I REFUSE to go into foster care!"

"Alright, alright. Geez, you can be so overreacting sometimes. What we need to do is..." Dalerian craned his head in thought for a moment, then noticed something silver at his feet. He knelt & shifted aside cluttered paper & such to uncover a hidden cellar door.

"Wow, I didn't see that there..."

"If we're lucky, we might find more food down there, wherever it goes."

Equipped with only a flashlight & a battery-powered power drill to quell Norvin's apprehensiveness of wild animal attacks, the brothers descended down the pitch-black stairwell. Upon reaching the bottom, they found little more than an empty, derelict room.

"Man, this is poor building planning." Dalerian remarked, scanning the room with his flashlight. "We must be at least 15 feet underground, & there isn't a light bulb or switch anywhere in this-"

"Shh..." Norvin shushed.

"Shh? Why should I have to-"

"Shhhh! Do you hear that?..."

Dalerian, slightly annoyed, heightened his hearing & listened intently. Sure enough, he also picked up on what Norvin was referring to: A pulsing humming sound, its source coming from behind a set of double doors in front of them. The boys looked at each other with frightened looks, but still wandered cautiously towards the doors, noticing an eerie, pulsating glow seeping through the crevices.

"What do you think is in there?"

"I don't know." replied Dalerian with anxious sweat beginning to bead his forehead, unseen by Norvin in the darkness. "What do we know that glows brightly?"

"Glow-sticks?"

"Nah...Maybe strobe lights?"

"Radioactive Uranium?"

"Okay, don't get crazy. Under normal circumstances, Uranium would be stored in some secret high security storage facility, not a simple suburban house in the middle of a relatively average neighborhood, even if it IS condemned!"

"...A simple 'I don't think so' would suffice." Norvin scoffed

Dalerian rolled his eyes. "Well, there's only one way to find out what's behind these doors of mystery." The duo each grabbed a doorknob, turned them slowly, & swung the doors open, sandwiching themselves between the doors and the wall. They entered the large room & marveled at the source of the glow: Two decrepit pedestals, one holding a turquoise-tinted spuare prism 17 inches in height & width. The other pedestal displayed an orb also 17 inches in diameter. It had a blueish tint, & pulsated luminously in perfect sync with the other artifact. The brothers slowly approached the unidentified objects with immense curiosity and awestruck expressions.

"What...are these things?" asked Norvin.

"I have no idea. They look dangerous." Dalerian checked underneath the square prism and noticed the object was levitating just centimeters from their stands. "...and just downright unnatural!" He raised his head, & gasped when he saw Norvin caressing the orb. "Norvin! Don't touch that! Do you want to get infected with an incurable disease or something?!"

Norvin rolled his eyes. "You need to stop being so paranoid, brother. I'm fine. These things are peculiar, but harmless. Go on; just touch it."

"I will not come in contact with...whatever these things are!"

"Com on, bro, you know you're curious."

"Oy...You sure these things are safe?"

"Positive. You won't feel a thing."

Sighing, Dalerian cautiously extended a single index finger to the geometric gem. Once contact was made, he felt a bit more secure, & placed his palm on the prism.

"It feels so...weird..."

"Weird? Bro, you have to admit, these are pretty cool. In fact, they're-"Norvin noticed that the artifacts were no longer pulsating, but instead gave off a consistent light. Norvin felt that something was amiss when he tried to move from near the pedestal. "...M-My hand! It's stuck to this thing!"

Dalerian realized that his hand was also mysteriously bound to the prism. "Norvin, I thought you said these things were harmless!"

"I did! Let's not panic; this is just a...malfunction or something. If we just wait a few moments...I think we'll be free."

Soon, the glow of the artifacts grew brighter & brighter until the entire room was bathed in its light. They then began to vibrate, growing more intense by the minute. The brothers each started to feel a tingling sensation, starting from their hands, & slowly traversed up their arms. Not only that, but the ground beneath their feet, & the building began to rumble & quake violently around them.

"Uh, I don't feel like myself!...What's happening?!" exclaimed Dalerian.

"I have no idea! This is bad, this is bad!"

After several moments, the artifacts expelled a blinding flash. When the light dissipated, Norvin, Dalerian, & the artifacts had vanished.

* * *

~*o0o*~

The overwhelming energy flowing through them caused the brothers to pass out. Eventually, they awoke.

"Ohhh...My aching...everything...What happened...?" The first thing he saw was Dalerian glaring at him with scorn. "What?"

" 'You need to stop being so paranoid, these things are harmless, Go on, touch it.'" Dalerian quoted. "Well, we did, & look what happened!"

"Okay, Okay. Maybe they weren't so-" Norvin noticed that the same glowing orb from before was now resting beside him. He got up & marveled at the beauty of the object in his hands.

Dalerian turned his head, & saw the square prism placed beside him as well. Fearing another strange phenomenon similar to the last, Dalerian scrambled to his feet, & tossed it away. To his surprise, the prism flew only a few feet before it stopped in midair & floated back to Dalerian's side. Terrified, Dalerian ran in circles around the room, the floating artifact staying close behind.

Norvin couldn't believe his brother's spinelessness. "Come on, Dalerian; you're embarrassing me, even though nobody's here." Seeing the other levitating artifact made Norvin wonder. He released the orb & sure enough, it floated before his eyes. He then started to play with it, ranging from rolling it over his arms, to spinning it over his finger, to balancing it on his nose like a seal. Each act took a high level of skill, but Norvin performed it all flawlessly, despite having never even played basketball before. "Hey bro, look at me! I'm a natural!"

"Yippee for you, now make this thing stop chasing me!"

"...Forget that. Let's go show these babies to the neighborhood! They'll be so amazed!"

"That's a terrible idea!...But I doubt you'll change your mind if I reject, so yeah, let's go." Dalerian held the cube under his arm with no fear whatsoever & went back outside. Norvin was confused at first, but disregarded it, & followed.

When they emerged from the underground, Dalerian looked out the window. It was a bright, sunny morning. "That's odd...it was about sunset just a while ago, wasn't it?"

"Maybe we were knocked out all night."

"Probably...but look what else has changed."

Norvin peered out to see a street stretching forward from their home, a row of uniquely shaped houses on either side of it. But what was most surprising were the citizens bustling about. There were no humans, only ponies; dozens of ponies, all with colorful coats, manes & tails.

"Oh...my Celestia..." Norvin covered his mouth. "Why the hay did I just say 'Celestia'?...and 'hay'?"

"I have no idea. Maybe we should go outside and find someone who knows what's going on here."

The two opened the front door, but once they set foot on the pavement, the majority of the commuting ponies immediately stopped, looked at them, murmured among themselves, screamed & panicked, & finally ran into their homes & locked their windows and shutters.

"Something tells me we're pretty alien to these horses..." said Norvin.

As they ambled the streets of the strange town, panic & fear inched over the town with every step they took. Each time they rounded a corner, the normally happy ponies gave them frightened looks & ran for the hills. Some braver ponies simply stood & watched in awe as the humans strolled by, mostly at the glowing geometric objects that levitated behind them. Norvin scoped the town in amazement, slowly realizing that the ponies themselves constructed the entire town. Sweat beaded on Dalerian's forehead, fearing a potential police pony action at any moment.

"This is spooky, Norvin. I can feel their gazes searing holes of contempt in my-...Norvin? Where'd you go?" Dalerian turned to find Norvin vigorously shaking the hoof of a cream-colored mare with a burgundy mane & tail.

"Hi, How ya doin'? My name's Norvin. I know you must probably have never seen anything like me or my brother, but don't worry! We won't hurt you, & we can tell you're all a peaceful pony race, correct?" Norvin put on an exaggerated smile as he tried to be friendly. His blue sphere rolled up his back, down his arm & into his free hand. "And this?...Er, I'm not sure what this is, but it's pretty neat, huh?" Dalerian dragged him away before Norvin could even ask the pony's name.

Eventually, they came across a large tree with windows & a door. Dalerian eyed the sign close to it. "...'Ponyville Library'...Seems like as good a place as any other to start looking for answers, eh, Norvin?" Dalerian turned his head around & noticed that Norvin was gone...again, until he saw a familiar pony galloping towards him, with Norvin riding on its back using his orb as a makeshift booster seat.

"Whoa, Rose!" The pony came to a neighing halt in front of Dalerian on Norvin's command. "Hey, bro! This is my new friend, Rose. She very fond of...roses. Isn't she adorable?"

Rose blushed slightly from Norvin's compliment. "Me? Adorable?" she said. "Come on, don't flatter me. I barely know you."

"Nonsense." Norvin replied, resting his head on hers & running his fingers through her mane.

"Norvin, I'm happy that you're having fun & making new friends, but in case you haven't noticed, we're in a real predicament here!" Dalerian uttered with some frustration.

"Oh, alright, fine." Norvin dismounted Rose & removed his orb from her back.. "Sorry, Rose. I'll have to ride you later. You see, we're clearly not from around here, & we were hoping to get more info on this place through the books in this library."

"Oh, I see." said Rose. "Twilight Sparkle should be able to help you boys out. See you around!" With that, she happily trotted away.

"Such fascinating creatures, am I right?" Norvin contently sighed.

"...You need therapy, Norvin."

The brothers entered the library.

"Man, It'll take forever to search through all these books!" Dalerian complained.

"Then we'd better get started, bro!" Norvin had already picked up a book. "Organized Orchards? Nope, not this one." He tossed it aside.

The two sifted tirelessly through book after book for several minutes, each bearing little to no information on their overall predicament or odd artifacts.

"Ugh! This is taking too long! Dalerian huffed, frustrated. "Norvin, let's just go find a librarian!"

"Hold that thought...Look up there! 'Late Equestrian History'!"

"How is that going to be of any help?"

"It isn't. I was just curious."

Dalerian let out a deep sigh. But he couldn't hold his exasperation for long when he heard footsteps sourcing from the staircase. "Someone's coming! Hide!" Dalerian took the opportunity to grab a stack of "_Advanced Spells for Gifted Unicorns_" books and used it to hide his legs while nearby window curtains concealed his upper body. He placed his square artifact on his head & hoped that its glow was unnoticeable beside the sunlight beaming through the window behind him.

To his horror, Norvin was still in plain sight, although, he was clambering up the bookcase like a primate. In all his years of knowing his brother, he had never seen Norvin show such agility & precision. Dalerian was stunned, but regained his composure just in time to see that the librarian pony had finished her trek downstairs, & was staring in shock at the strange being climbing all over her shelves.

Dalerian gulped, for he knew that he & especially his brother were in deep trouble.

**And thus ends Chapter 1. Tell me what you think about it, won't you? Like most any other author, it would make me exceedingly happy.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello again, loyal readers! You are enjoying the revisions thus far, yes?**

**Chapter 2**

Dalerian winced when the lavender pony screamed upon sight of Norvin climbing atop the shelves. Norvin was equally surprised, so much that he lost his balance and fell with a thud, bringing down a shower of books on top of him. Dalerian peered with anxiety between the curtains. He gasped when he saw his brother buried beneath a hill of literature, fearing the worst would happen to him as a result of his curiosity.

A blunt tipped horn on the lavender pony's forehead began to glow with a light-purple aura, levitating the books and placing each back on the shelves. At the sight of this, Dalerian's jaw nearly hit the floor.

As the light on the pony's forehead faded, it gazed at Norvin rubbing his pained head with intrigue. "Um, Hi there, little fella." It greeted, hesitantly. What in Equestria _are_ you?"

"Oww..." Norvin turned around to meet the mare's eyes. "Oh, Hi. Sorry about this mess..."

The lavender pony was visibly surprised upon hearing Norvin speak. "Whoa! You can talk? Wh-what kind of creature are you?"

"Er, excuse me. I'm actually a human."

"A human? Is that what you are? I've never seen anything like you before."

Norvin rose to his feet. "That's probably because I just recently arrived here. My name's Norvin. Pleased to meet you, miss, uh..."

"Twilight Sparkle. It's nice to discover a new species so formally, Norvin."

Dalerian breathed a relieved sigh. Hearing an unfamiliar sound outside, he looked out the window to see a gray colored, wall-eyed mare hover by wobbly using a pair of wings. The cube perched upon his head began to pulse rapidly, giving away his hiding place.

"Hey, what's that?" asked Twilight, pointing a hoof towards the glowing curtains.

"Oh. That's my cowardly brother. He's can be overly paranoid sometimes."

Twilight's horn glowed again, its aura enveloping the curtains, shifting them aside to reveal Dalerian's presence. Upon seeing the pony, Dalerian held his prism out in self-defense, stubborn apprehension clear on his face.

"Dalerian! Stop being such a spineless wimp! Introduce yourself!" Norvin demanded.

"I'm not taking any more chances! That's what got us stuck here in the first place! For all we know, she could be just planning to call 911 on us now!"

"Ugh!" Norvin groaned. "Get a grip, would ya?! You're giving Twilight here a bad first impression on our species!"

"It's okay, Mr. Human. I believe in the magic of friendship. I won't hurt you." Twilight assured.

Sighing in defeat, Dalerian lowered his guard. "Fine."

"I'm Twilight Sparkle. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Oh! You must be visitors to Ponyville! That must explain all the commotion I heard earlier!"

"Er...I guess you could say that..."

"I'M BORED!" Norvin shouted suddenly before springing towards the door. "If either of you need me, I'll be out sightseeing. Toodles!" He announced he took off, his blue orb levitating behind him.

"Norvin!" Dalerian called to no avail. As long as he knew him, Norvin had always been an outgoing engine of cheery friendliness. He was almost always doing whatever he could to make something extraordinary happen, and it seemed that he would be able to do just that & then some in this new place filled with talking ponies. "Man, that kid..." Dalerian sighed.

"His personality's comparable to that of a good friend of mine."

"Oh, really? Someone here is near-hyperactive like my brother?"

"More than you know. I'll introduce you. Follow me!"

Releasing his inhibitions for now, Dalerian ran along with Twilight hot behind Norvin.

* * *

With a spark in his step, & an enigmatic sphere of mystery floating by his side, Norvin strolled through the streets of Ponyville. No matter what the residents called out at him, he stayed cheery & waved & smiled at just about every pony that gave him a look, be it curious or confused. A bit later, a scrumptious scent infiltrated his nose, reminding him of chocolate cake, one of his favorite deserts. He followed the sweet smell to a building whose roof appeared to be made of gingerbread.

"Mmmm...Is this where the yummy smell is coming from...?" pondered Norvin dreamily. He took a lick of one of the candy-cane colored support beams & grimaced when they tasted like nothing but wood. "Eww!...That was dumb..." Norvin blushed slightly, hoping that nobody saw his moment of strangeness. "That means the treats must be inside." His orb began to pulse vigorously and ram itself repeatedly into the door.

"And something else of interest too!" Excitedly, he proceeded inside & followed the vibrant artifact as it hovered across the foyer & up a staircase. Anticipation stirred and welled within him as he ascended the stairs. This came to a head when he spotted a pink mare with a poofy mane & tail, the artifact levitating closer to her pulsing with energies so prominent, Norvin could feel them reverberating throughout his very being. In fact, they were so strong, that soon Norvin found himself unable to move...& drawn towards the orb by a mysterious force.

The pulsing sound caught the pink pony's attention. She turned & gasped when she caught sight of the wondrously glowing object. Soon, she also felt herself paralyzed & slowly attracted like metal to a magnet towards the center of the room.

Norvin & the pink pony exchanged worried glances when they both came in contact with the orb.

Meanwhile, Twilight & Dalerian followed his floating cube through town. It hovered at a steady pace, seeming to know the way to Norvin. Dalerian was having a hard time keeping pace with the four-legged unicorn with his mere two legs.

"Hurry, Dalerian!" beckoned Twilight. "He could be in danger!"

"...Not fair! I only have two legs!"

"Oh, right." She slowed her gait to match Dalerian's speed. "Sorry." "I've been meaning to ask, but what is that floaty thing?"

"I don't know. But I think it, along with Norvin's sphere, is the reason him & I wound up here."

After rounding a corner, she came to a halt & gasped at what she saw. "Look! Sugarcube Corner!" She pointed towards a bright flashing light emanating from it's the top window. The lights also attracted gazes of awe & fear from nearby ponies until it ended in a blinding flash of white.

"Whoa! What's going on over there?" Dalerain noticed his prism moving straight towards the light. "That has to be where Norvin is!"

The two rushed to & through the front door of Sugarcube Corner. The prism led them to the top of the stairs. When they arrived, Relief settled in to see Norvin & the pink pony fine, rubbing their heads recovering from their strange experience, and the blue orb now glowing continuously.

"Norvin! Pinkie Pie! Are you alright?"

"Oooohh..." Pinkie moaned. "Wow! That was so weird!" She began to spring blissfully up & down with a big smile as if nothing happened. "I was just sitting here planning my next party, & then I heard something, & I turned and I was so surprised because I saw that thing, and that ball!" She pointed towards Norvin & the artifact orb.

Dalerian turned to his brother when he saw him hopping in a similar way to Pinkie Pie. "Norvin, what are you doing?" Dalerian asked.

"That pony's cheerfulness is so...contagious!" Norvin replied. He skipped over & held hands/hooves with her as they hopped like they were already best friends.

"Wow. Norvin sure has a way with being sociable." remarked Twilight.

"...

"Oh! Let me introduce you. Dalerian, this is Pinkie Pie, one my best friends."

"It's nice to meet her..." Suddenly, Dalerian prism began to pulsate rapidly once again, & it zipped out an open window into the sky.

"I don't know where that thing's going, but I know that we should follow it! Come on!"

Dalerian & Twilight immediately rushed downstairs to the door, but Norvin instead placed his artifact sphere on Pinkie's back, & rode after them, though his raised elevation caused the stair overhang to hit his head...Ouch...

**This brings Chapter 2 to a close. Tell me, how do you like it so far?**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hi, Hi, Welcome.**

**I hope I can get the ponies' personalities right this time! The last fic I wrote about this had a bad depiction of Rainbow Dash...**

**Chapter 3**

High above Ponyville, Rainbow Dash, the cyan winged wonder and a near-legend among the other pegasi, soared at a steady pace across the skies. "Alright, sky looks cleared for today. Now I'll just look around one more time for any stray clouds, and then I'll- Huh?" A teal, square object was hurdling towards her. It made painful contact with her head and hovered in front of her.

"Oww! Hey, what's the big idea, ramming into me like that?!" The pegasus roared. The object hovered silently. "What the hay is thing, anyway?" The artifact jetted back towards the ground. "Hey! Come back here!" yelled Rainbow as she gave chase.

On the ground, Dalerian stopped running when he saw his prism diving towards him. It paused a few feet in front of him, & began to rapidly pulse in similar fashion to Norvin's orb's reaction to Pinkie Pie.

"There you are! I don't know what you are, or what your purpose is, but for the time being, I own you! So I'm putting my foot down, & I'm laying down the law! Law #1: No flying away to wherever the wind takes you whenever the hay you want! Law #2: No-" Dalerian could no longer feel ground beneath his feet. He looked horrified to see his body levitating off the ground & over the cube. "No lifting me off the ground without my permission! Put me down!"

Rainbow Dash came to a stop when she saw the object that hit her head glowing so fast a fair distance away. She was even more confused when she saw a strange figure floating over it. When she tried to get closer to inspect it, she noticed something wasn't right.

'Why am I flapping so hard and moving so slowly?' she thought. 'I can go way faster than this!' She tried flapping even harder, stopping only to catch her breath. To add to her confusion, she noticed she was still hovering towards the two figures, without any help from her wings at all. "What the hay?! How am I still in the air?"

The square artifact's energies moved Rainbow Dash in front of Dalerian in moments. The utterly confused two made eye contact.

"Hey! What the hay are you?! What's going on here?!" the pegasus yelled.

"Believe me, I'm as freaked out as you are!" Dalerian responded, holding his hands up in self-defense.

Once the two were in position, the cube spun itself around at a breakneck speed, causing currents of wind to form a hollow pillar of wind to rise from the earth and engulf them. Twilight arrived just in time to her friends' terrified faces disappear behind the wall of wind. Norvin & Pinkie Pie arrived seconds later to behold the powerful wind tunnel rising into the sky, but with entertained looks on their faces, as if they were watching a movie, unlike Twilight, whose face showed a mix of wonder & worry.

A few moments passed before the wind pillar violently dispersed, the resulting wind force blowing down street signs, hanging flower pots, & a house of cards an unfortunate pony was just about to finish with only one card left. Afterwards, Dalerian, Rainbow Dash, & the cube fell with a thud.

Twilight slowly approached the two. "Dalerian? Rainbow Dash? Are you two alright?"

Rainbow Dash just laid there, eyes wide and unmoving.

"Um, Miss...Rainbow Dash? Are you alive?"

"She's got turbulence paralysis!" Norvin cried in despair. "Curse you, bitter winds!" He shook a fist toward the sky. "You've doomed yet another poor soul to a boring life of immobility in your intangible clutches!"

"What?!" questioned Twilight.

"Uh...I...don't even know..." sighed Dalerian.

"Oh, no!" Pinkie zipped to Rainbow Dash's side, actually believing Norvin's silly quip. "Don't worry, Rainbow; I'll make sure you can still live your daredevil life to the fullest even though you're paralyzed; I'll help you eat, fly, or go the bathroom if I have to!"

"No, Pinkie Pie!" Rainbow Dash quickly rose to her hooves. "I'm fine, I'm okay!"

"Oh, what a relief!" Dalerian gave Rainbow Dash a hug.

Confused, Rainbow pushed him away. "I don't know you well enough to be hugging me like that! Twilight, can you explain what's going on here?"

"Sure. First, introductions. Rainbow Dash, this is Dalerian. Over there is his brother, Norvin."

Within a second, Rainbow Dash was in front of Twilight. "Twi, what are you doing, letting these things walk around Ponyville all willy-nilly like that! What are they called, anyway?"

"Humans!" answered Dalerian.

"Gesundheit."

"What? I didn't sneeze."

"Rainbow, remember the friendship lesson we learned from Zecora." Twilight reminded Rainbow. "We can't judge somepony just because they look strange or act differently from us."

Rainbow Dash remembered that lesson well. Just before learning it, she was flying as if she had two left wings, repeatedly crashing into walls, trees, & various other objects that just so happened to be in her scrambled flight pattern, courtesy of the dreaded Poison Joke.

"I don't know, Twilight..." Rainbow Dash pondered, still not entirely convinced "Are you _sure_ about these guys?" She pointed to Dalerian poking the grayed cube with a stick, hoping to get some kind of reaction out of it, then Norvin, who was playfully bowling with his sphere for Pinkie Pie.

"Don't worry Rainbow Dash," Twilight comforted. "These humans are the friendliest humans I know."

"More like the only humans you know. By the way, could you tell me what was up with that cube & the tornado that threw me and the 'human' for a loop?"

"Sorry Rainbow, I don't have a clue on what they are."

As if the situation wasn't already complicated, The artifacts sparked their glow once again and started floating at a steady pace towards a rural building in the distance. Norvin took the opportunity to grab on to his orb for a free ride.

"Ugh, why wont these things stay in one place?!" Dalerian groaned. He was becoming very frustrated with the endless mystery associated with the artifacts. Knowing that both objects were important for reasons he didn't know, he followed them with his pony friends close behind him.

"Well, I've finished the introductions," Twilight said to Dalerian and Rainbow as they strolled. "So you two can finish by filling each other in with details."

"But Twilight-" the two said in unison.

"No back talk! Befriend each other, now!" The stern tone of the unicorn's voice let her friends know she would not be swayed. At first, there was an awkward silence.

"So...You like flying?" Dalerian broke the silence with an obvious question, given that she was hovering next to him as he walked along the path.

"'Like it'? I couldn't live without my wings!" She sped high into the sky, performed a few loops, and zipped back to Dalerian's side in three seconds flat. "Without these babies, life would be so, unbelievably boring that...that..." She shuddered. "You know what, I don't even want to think about it."

"Doing all those aeriall stunts does look cool."

"Yeah, I know. If thought that was cool, wait 'till you get a load of my most radical tricks. They're beyond awesome, just like me!"

"I can imagine, considering how they'll be performed by a pony who's so sure of herself."

"And I have just about every right to be! In case you haven't noticed, you're looking at the winner of the Best Young Flyer Competition of Cloudsdale!"

"Oooh; I don't know about '_best_ youngflier'. I could be wrong, but there's always a chance someone could be better than you..." Dalerian joked, but Rainbow Dash was not amused.

"You're lucky Twilight's watching us, two legs; cause if she weren't, I'd hoof you in your belly in one second flat for that." Her expression changed from boastful to annoyed rather quickly.

"Sorry, I was just joking. Lighten up."

"Me? Lighten up?" She pulled the back of Dalerian's shirt over his head, much to his chagrin. "I'm always lightened up! Remember who you're talking to, pal!"

The two glared at each other, returning the bad vibe the other gave off. All it took was the reprimanding stare of Twilight to keep the two from getting into a physical scuffle.

Soon, the road came to an end at an expanse of farmland, with apple orchards stretching far and wide across the acres.

"Sweet Apple Acres? What could those strange things want here?" wondered Twilight aloud.

"Oh boy, We're at Sweet Apple Acres! Applejack will want to meet you, Norvin!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed. "Be right back!" She cheerfully skipped towards the nearby barn.

The artifacts hovered beyond a hill, & the group followed with caution. The objects levitated at level with what looked like yet another geometric prism of power.

It was a pyramid shaped object, much like their own. It glowed with a pulsing purple light. But what really captured everyone's attention was what was under it, and Norvin could barely believe his eyes when he saw who was laying beneath the prism. "Other brother? Is that you...?"

**I stayed up all night stressing over this. Seriously. PLEASE let me know it was worth it by telling me I potrayed Rainbow Dash's character correctly!**


End file.
